After reading I Sing The Body Electric short story for the first time today, I was so impressed that I would like to share the experience with my high school students.

One of my difficulties is that, teaching in a Japanese high school in Osaka, the level of English ability is relatively low so reading the entire store is too difficult. Watching the movie, The Electric Grandmother, is not too difficult I believe. After watching the movie, students could write summaries and reaction paragraphs.

Well, searching for the movie has been disheartening. I did find three dubious copies for sale in the $100 range on the Internet but the corporate movie production world has pushed this movie to extinction. It looks like the production company, LCA, was bought by A New World Company which was bought by Fox. I wrote Fox an e-mail asking when and if they might re-release the movie and so far I have had no reply.

Is there anybody on this board who might be able to share ideas about getting Ray Bradbury's movies re-issued? Does anybody know which movies are recommendable to a group of high school students and ARE available?

Does anybody know if Mr. Bradbury himself would have any interest in keeping the movie versions of his stories available for public enlightenment?

Is there anybody on this board, perhaps fjpalumbo, with whom I might be able to discuss teaching Bradbury?

I'm all ears,
Steven Thompson

I'll check this board, but please feel free to e-mail me directly: steven_sensei@yahoo.com

Steven,

I share your frustration about the scarcity of Bradbury film/video material commercially available. I've been collecting stuff off air for a number of years, and have been fortunate in capturing a number of elusive items.

The story "I Sing...", believe it or not, first appeared as a TV script that Bradbury wrote for "The Twilight Zone" in 1962. The episode they made from it was pretty dull, but the main story elements are there. This episode is available on DVD ("Twilight Zone Volume 5").

Alternatively, you might try the VHS recording "Ray Bradbury: an American Icon". I haven't seen this myself, but I understand it is similar to a BBC Omnibus programme which I have seen - lots of interview material, and a few short dramatisations (actually clips from "Ray Bradbury Theater").

Other items available on VHS include:

"Ray Bradbury's Chronicles: The Martian Episodes" - five Martian stories dramatised for Ray Bradbury Theater

"Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby is a Friend of Mine" - dramatisation of short story

"The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit" - dramatisation of short story/play

"The Halloween Tree" - animated film based on the short novel. Nice one for looking at cultural traditions, but not for this time of year!

I've just checked on Amazon.com, and these are all still currently available. Amazon also has reviews of some of them.

A bit off-topic, but have you looked at Bradbury's book "Zen in the Art of Writing"? This contains some nice essays about generating story ideas. Couple some of these with some carefully chosen Bradbury short stories, and you might have yourself a lesson plan or two. I personally favour "The Golden Apples of the Sun" as a teaching aid. Earlier Bradbury tends to be shorter on metaphor; a few years later and (with "I sing..." and "Something Wicked...") the language starts getting quite dense; later again and the stories become more like plays.

- Phil

[This message has been edited by philnic (edited 01-04-2004).]

There are currently are at least six VHS copies of THE ELECTRIC GRANDMOTHER for sale on eBay. I have also seen many copies for sale there previously. They seem to sell for somewhere in the $20 to $30 range. Just go to eBay and type in Electric Grandmother as your search terms:
http://www.ebay.com

Dear helpful posters,

Thank you for your suggestions thus far. Amazon has been helpful as has fjpalumbo and philnic with whom I will be in contact with by e-mail. If there are other teachers or writers interested in helping me to re-write (simplify) any of Bradbury's stories for an ESL class or develop curriculum of any kind, please contact me at steven_sensei@yahoo.com.

Sincerely,
Steven Thompson

Talking about the Twilight Zone - watching the marathon on New Years Eve & Day, I caught part of one the interest me, The Wax Museum full of murderers like Jack the Ripper - you all know the episode I mean? Was that loosele based on Marionettes,Inc.?

I saw that episode! It was by Charles Beaumont. I think Mr Bradbury knows him in some way. Others here may know more about him. I do know that the episode was very spooky and good.

[This message has been edited by Ought Not (edited 01-05-2004).]

That episode sounds like "The New Exhibit" (see http://www.thetzsite.com/credits/quickguide4.html episode 115).

That one was actually written by Jerry Sohl, and not based on any short story as far as I know.

Charles Beaumont was a prolific writer of short stories and TV/film scripts. (One of several web pages about his work is here: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Charles_Beaumont.htm ) He died at a relatively early age, some time in the 1960s. During his Twilight Zone era, he would often "farm out" some of his scripting assignments to other writers - he received the screen credit, they received (some of) the money. This episode may be one that was credited to Beeaumont but written by someone else (Sohl, in this case). I can't remember the details, but Marc Scott Zicree's Twilight Zone Companion tells all.

Bradbury did know Beaumont, well enough to dedicate a book to him. I think it was S is for Space (but I could be wrong on that). I remember that the dedication said something like "for Charles Beaumont, who used to live on the next block".

That's a great site, philnic. Thanks. I am not positive about it, but I believe Beaumont's name was on the beginning credits. There's actually a lot of information on that nice Twilight Zone site about Charles (or Chuck, as Mr Bradbury called him) Beaumont. And you're right, Beaumont as most his friends say had a million things going on at the same time and gave over tons of his jobs to his pals.